Geoffrey Reeves, Los Alamos National Laboratory; Gian Luca Delzanno, Los Alamos National Laboratory; Quinn Marksteiner, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Keywords: Radiation Belts, Space Weather, Extreme Environments, Satellite Risk, High Altitude Nuclear Explosions, Remediation
Abstract:
The Earth’s radiation belts are populations of extremely high energy charged particles that are trapped in the Earth’s magnetic field. Radiation belt particles have high enough energy that they can penetrate spacecraft shielding and create secondary radiation inside the satellite. Radiation belt particles are the primary contributors to total satellite dose. On shorter time scales, high fluxes of radiation belt electrons can cause internal charging and discharging which can permanently degrade or disable satellites.
Radiation belt fluxes change by many orders of magnitude on time scales ranging from hours to decades. Recent observations, from NASA’s Van Allen Probes mission and others, have greatly advanced our understanding of the processes that control radiation belt intensity and dynamics. This new understanding creates the opportunity (but not yet the reality) of greatly improved forecasting. Part of this talk will describe some of that new understanding along with the opportunities and obstacles in predictive radiation belt forecasting.
The recently-published US National Space Weather Strategy and Action Plan draws new attention to extreme space weather conditions, their effects on critical infrastructure, and the need for preparedness and mitigation plans. Radiation belt intensities are one of those extreme space weather conditions. This talk will also review state of the art and future directions for improved understanding of the most extreme radiation belt conditions.
One extreme event, not caused by natural space weather, is anthropogenic radiation belts produced by high altitude nuclear explosions/detonations (HANE or HAND). Recently significant advances have been made in our ability to predict the intensity and characteristics of HANE-produced radiation belts and potential risks to space-based critical infrastructure.
The renewed emphasis on extreme radiation belt environments has led to renewed interest in techniques to for radiation belt remediation (RBR) which involves removing radiation belt particles by dumping them harmlessly into the atmosphere. The talk will also discuss new radiation belt remediation initiatives including development of end-to-end RBR systems modeling and new experimental programs to test methods to generate the electromagnetic waves that underlie RBR systems.
Date of Conference: September 15-18, 2020
Track: Atmospherics/Space Weather